University of Brunel, details of Brunel university

Brunel 

University ranking

• 2010  41
• 2009  41
• 2008  52

History

• Brunel College of Advanced Technology was awarded its Royal Charter in 1966, becoming Brunel University.
• Named after I K Brunel, the university has sought to emulate the great engineer’s energy, entrepreneurship, creativity and practicality.
• The university has merged, in recent years, with Shoreditch College of Education and the West London Institute (formerly Borough Road College, Chiswick Polytechnic, Maria Grey College and the London School of Occupational Therapy).

Location and Transport

• Located on a self-contained campus at Uxbridge in West London, just inside the M25 with easy access to the M4, M40 and central London and the Home Counties.
• 15-minute walk from Uxbridge tube station, 10-minute bus journey to West Drayton train station (Paddington to Bristol) and a 20-minute drive to Heathrow Airport.

Accommodation

• All residential accommodation (4,549 rooms) is on-campus, with a room for every first-year (UG and PG) full-time student (though not guaranteed through the clearing scheme), at prices ranging from £79 to £97 per week (Christmas and Easter included in the lease).
• Halls (many built in the last five years) are high quality. Over three-quarters have en-suite facilities.
• All rooms have free internet access and weekly-laundered bed linen.
• More more details on accommodation at Brunel, visit the website. 

Entry standards

League Table

• Information on general entry requirements is on the university's website.
• Levels of attainment vary from course to course and can be found on individual web course pages.

Bursaries and Scholarships

In receipt of full Maintenance Grant:  £1,000

In receipt of partial Maintenance Grant: £500

Living in specified postcodes  Scholarship

Progressing from outreach Scholarship

Ethnic minorities Scholarship

Academic achievement Scholarship

• Tuition fees (2009): £3,225.
• Placement year tuition fee (2009): £815. Fee levels vary depending on thick or thin sandwich course. Consult the university for full details.
• Up to 25 scholarships worth up to £3,000 for high-performing students from partnership schools in low-participation boroughs. (Terms and conditions apply.)
• Payment will be made in instalments.
• For more information on bursaries and scholarships at Brunel University, click here.

Student mix

• Male to female 52:48.
• Home to overseas 84:16.
• Undergraduate to postgraduate 74:26.
• Applications to places 6.3:1.

Course flexibility

• All courses comprise self-contained modules, most offering optional topics (occasionally including modules from other courses).

• Brunel pioneered the sandwich course, and still offers the majority of its programmes in thin or thick sandwich formats that include extensive work-related placements.
• The university offers a one-year foundation programme in Engineering or IT to prepare non-specialists in those areas for entry to relevant degree courses.

Teaching standards

League Table

• In the most recent institutional audit, the government’s Quality Assurance Agency awarded Brunel a vote of ‘broad confidence’ – the highest possible rating.
• Many programmes have external validation from professional bodies, such as Industrial and Product Design, Youth and Community Work, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Community Health, Computer Science and IS, Law, Psychology and Mechanical Engineering.

Research standards

League Table

• In the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, Brunel gained national or international standard in the large majority of areas, including Psychology, Biological Science, Mathematics and Statistics, Engineering, Law, Anthropology, Economics, Politics, Sociology, Business, IT and Design.
• Over £14 million has been invested on new research-led staff and centres in the last three years.

Academic strengths

• All students are encouraged to undertake practical placements and projects as an integral part of their courses (a founding principle of the sandwich degree structure) and have access to specialist laboratories in, for example, electronic imaging, bioprocessing and experimental techniques, as well as academic archives in cult film and contemporary writing.

• Academic facilities, also accessible to students, include flight, driving and train simulators, 3-D body scanner, motion-capture equipment and MRI scanner, occupational therapy suite, and extensive sports and performing arts facilities.
• Courses draw on much of Brunel’s internationally-renowned research in, for example, Cancer Genetics, Environmental Science, Human-Centred Design, Materials Processing, Contemporary Music and Digital Performance, Able Children’s Education and Sports Medicine.

Student facilities, including Library and Computing

League Table

• The library holds over 457,934 books, has 1,244 study places and is home to a well-equiped Assistive Technology Centre. The West London Assessment Centre is also based at the University.
• Medical Centre offers standard NHS services.
• Free counselling service, staffed by professionally qualified permanent staff, available to all students.
• Brunel International recruits, admits and supports overseas students including provision of language and other short courses.
• Arts Centre organizes concerts, shows and recitals and offers free music tuition, painting, drawing and other classes.

Disability services

• For information about the disability services at Brunel: telephone 01895 265213; fax 01895 269767; email; or visit thewebsite.

Students’ Union

• A wide range of welfare and social amenities and services. Also organizes clubs and societies covering areas as diverse as sports, special interests and religious groups.
• The Advice and Representation Centre, run by the union, offers free independent advice.
• More information about the students' union at Brunel is available here.

Sport

• One of the UK’s top institutions in sport. Many students, graduates and staff have represented their countries at the Olympic Games and World Championships as competitors and coaches. Several English Institute of Sport staff are based at Brunel and the University is home to one of the four UK Athletics High Performance Athletics centres.
• Top quality facilities include £14-million indoor athletics centre and netball hall (part of the English Institute of Sport network), outdoor athletics arena and numerous sports pitches, gym and fitness suite, squash courts and climbing wall rated (by the BMC) as one of the best in the country, and two full-sized floodlit playing fields, one with competition standard synthetic surface.
• The university awards scholarships annually to students of outstanding sporting ability.
• More information about sport at Brunel is available here.  

Recent/prospective new builds

• The university has spent £250 million on a five-year building programme, due for completion in 2008.
• £2.5-million UEFA-class football facilities and competition-standard athletics track.
• Extended library with Assistive Technology Centre for disabled students.
• Revamped refectory complex with atrium entrance into dining halls and shops.
• Health Sciences and Social Care building, opened by Her Majesty the Queen. Engineering and Design annex and atrium. Arts Centre with visual arts studio, dark room and ceramics suite.

Availability of part-time work

• Job Shop organises part-time and vacation work for Brunel students, much of it for departments within the university. 
• The Placement and Careers Centre organises careers education, work placement and recruitment services. 
• Student Ambassador Scheme gives students the opportunity to represent the university to the outside world and earn money at the same time.
• University-wide mentoring programme places students in companies and organisations, and also new students with current final-year students.

For further information

• www.brunel.ac.uk
• admissions@brunel.ac.uk
• Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH 
• +44 (0)1895 265265
• Travel and maps